Brick Houses? Yes Or No...?

[Zee09]

My wood shop built in 1999. Picture taken from my vehicle as I pulled in the lane. Distorted by the window

 

[Snagglefoot]

I watched a show on This Old House and an old bricklayer discussed how part of the problem was the modern mortars were too brittle and needed a special concoction to be somehow more “flexible” to avoid cracking. Can that possible be true?

 

[Thermo1223]

My only concern is, is brick and mortar construction the same today as it was ~100yrs ago?

My first two homes were built in the early/mid 1950s and were all brick. 50+ years later, all the mortar joints were original, no cracking. I never had to do a thing with the brick exterior.

The only issue was, these homes were poorly insulated and on hot summer days, those heat soaked bricks would really heat the house up towards the evening, into the night.

My current home is partial brick from ~1970. It's all original.

Precisely why I hate my aluminum siding. On hot summer days you can feel the heat radiating into the house, mostly from lack of a thermal break (OSB or plywood).

I just have diagonal stringers for the siding to be nailed too.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Personally I like how maintenance free they are relatively speaking.

I'm in a high wind area and they don't keep you up all night thinking they're going to blow apart like vinyl siding etc. No painting like stucco etc.

Topped off with a heavy guage metal roof and you have a winner. I prefer mine as a single story with a full basement. How about you ?

View attachment 211314

I guess. Depends on the color of the brick as I prefer lighter shades.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

My niece in Germany is right now building this house /
Once it's done in a few months the total will be .... what's your guess?

View attachment 211336

$700k?

 

[StarCaller]

My niece in Germany is right now building this house /
Once it's done in a few months the total will be .... what's your guess?

View attachment 211336

The house is in a small town (2300 people), like 50 miles from the next big city (Stuttgart) /
The lot was €100.000, the house itself will be €850.000; so the total is close to a million Euros /
They couldn't just buy the lot; the little village was asking what THEY will bring to make the village better /
My nieces' husband made a plan, organized & got approved for a weekly farmers market....

Radiant Floor Heat​

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

My only concern is, is brick and mortar construction the same today as it was ~100yrs ago?

My first two homes were built in the early/mid 1950s and were all brick. 50+ years later, all the mortar joints were original, no cracking. I never had to do a thing with the brick exterior.

The only issue was, these homes were poorly insulated and on hot summer days, those heat soaked bricks would really heat the house up towards the evening, into the night.

My current home is partial brick from ~1970. It's all original.

What I've seen with brick today is insufficient air gap between the brick and sheathing/wrb. I've also seen where mortor is bridging the gap between the brick and sheathing. That's a no-no as far as keeping the walls dry.

 

[Chris142]

dont do well in earthquakes. stick built can wiggle

 

[Hermann]

Grew up in a full brick house. During the temperate seasons brick is nice. In 0°F weather it was hard to heat. The darker reddish color of our brick retained lots of summer heat. Guess whose bedroom faced west with no air conditioner for many years.

 

[facility1]

poured reinforced concrete with resin exterior coating and full basement,,slate roof,only if I could afford it.

 

[paulo57509]

I like brick as long as it's not painted.

I rented a flat in a brick building that was built ~1890's in Butte, MT (1st floor, on the left). The date of "Sept '96" was engraved in the flange of my bathroom sink drain; it wasn't 1996 yet. That building was freaking COLD during the winter.

I lived in the flat on the first floor on the left.

Strange coincidence - the senior couple that lived in the house next door were originally from Tracy. The husband used to own a gas station here in town.

 

[Jetronic]

My only concern is, is brick and mortar construction the same today as it was ~100yrs ago?

My first two homes were built in the early/mid 1950s and were all brick. 50+ years later, all the mortar joints were original, no cracking. I never had to do a thing with the brick exterior.

The only issue was, these homes were poorly insulated and on hot summer days, those heat soaked bricks would really heat the house up towards the evening, into the night.

My current home is partial brick from ~1970. It's all original.

how thick were those all brick walls? My grandparents had an all brick farm, but the walls were about 2ft thick

 

[JTK]

how thick were those all brick walls? My grandparents had an all brick farm, but the walls were about 2ft thick

2"x4" wall framing.

 

[PF52]

I live in a "Chicago-style brick bungalow" (that's a real thing; look it up on the Google for example pics). There are thousands of them throughout Chicago and in many of its older suburbs. Ours will be 100 in a few years. I like the huge rooms, full basement and long driveway, as opposed to a lot of postwar housing which often didn't have those. The narrow lot width and very steep stairs are a downside.

 

[I<3oil]

Personally I like how maintenance free they are relatively speaking.

I'm in a high wind area and they don't keep you up all night thinking they're going to blow apart like vinyl siding etc. No painting like stucco etc.

Topped off with a heavy guage metal roof and you have a winner. I prefer mine as a single story with a full basement. How about you ?

View attachment 211314

Yes pls

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

For me, absolutely not. Can't stand brick veneer.

Also - if your brick walls have a lot of south and western exposure, guess what time those walls peak with heat gain in the summer and fall? 10-11 PM. That's right. Their peak hot temperature is at 10-11PM.


Think about it. What are pizza ovens built out of? Brick. Why? To hold the heat in.

Make sure you put a 4/12 hip roof on it with BLACK shingles...

 

[Zee09]

Up the north my cooling costs are miniscule at best. Come winter the heating bills are the issue and real brick retaining heat is a big positive.

 

[rekit]

I love our brick veneer, my only regret is not going all the way up on the gable end. 105 wood has to be replaced when it rots and cleaned every few years and repainted.

 

[Zee09]

I love our brick veneer, my only regret is not going all the way up on the gable end. 105 wood has to be replaced when it rots and cleaned every few years and repainted.

Yup I totally agree.
I never want another wood balcony or deck again. I don't use them either. No exterior wood at all.

 

[vavavroom]

I’d be worried about the ground shifting, causing cracks.

Brick buildings may not be suitable or even allowed given the location.

And how does insulation work with that? is the interior still sheetrock and all, just the exterior is brick?

There are different types of bricks made of various materials, solid, hollow, in various sizes, and with different thermal properties. Insulating materials like Styrofoam sheets and spray able, expandable foam, and soft foam blocks are used for additional insulation. The outside of a brick building is often covered with roughcast. Brick buildings can be very well insulated, certainly better than something stick- built.